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can i blow fuzz faces with too hot an input signal? mine has started acting weird after i ran my purpll into it at a crazy setting. I think it might have been biased a little too hot also (way too hot heheh).

Kinda freaking out cause im too scared to fuck with anything inside

Yes, transistors can suffer or die from operation outside their design range, though I find it's usually catastrophic failure.

I've read of early transistors losing the integrity of the PN junctions when run hot, resulting in an increase of noise/loss of "definition" over time. I think that was based on a manufacturing method that has long been obsolete though. It's been a while since I read that, and I recall looking for it again years ago and coming up blank, so I have no supporting evidence.

Cap failure is far more common in my experience. If it's an old classic, something may have gone sideways. If it's recent production, something else may have gone sideways. Be fearless and take a look, it may be that it's only full of spiders.

Did you already put it in the fridge for a while? We have had pretty warm weather in Europe lately.

crochambeau wrote:Yes, transistors can suffer or die from operation outside their design range, though I find it's usually catastrophic failure.

I've read of early transistors losing the integrity of the PN junctions when run hot, resulting in an increase of noise/loss of "definition" over time. I think that was based on a manufacturing method that has long been obsolete though. It's been a while since I read that, and I recall looking for it again years ago and coming up blank, so I have no supporting evidence.

Cap failure is far more common in my experience. If it's an old classic, something may have gone sideways. If it's recent production, something else may have gone sideways. Be fearless and take a look, it may be that it's only full of spiders.

I thought about the caps too. It's one of those NOS things and it has one electrolytic. Maybe I gotta check that. Idk if my multimetr does fahrads though.

I tried re-setting the bias and it helped a bit. I did it free-hand so idk how much better I could have gotten it. Still not as bright and exciting as before. This germanium shit is giving me brain damage, honest to god